California Chrome

I started following thoroughbred horse racing a little over 30 years. Across those three decades I’ve seen ten horses win both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. And ten times my soul was later crushed at some point during the Belmont Stakes. Is the 11th time the charm? Is California Chrome the one? I figured it couldn’t hurt to try to exorcise the demons of past Triple Crown heartbreak.

1987 – Alysheba This was my second time attending the Belmont Stakes and Alysheba was my first favorite horse. Out of money at my local Off Track-Betting Parlor before the 1987 Kentucky Derby, I cancelled my Dad’s ticket on the race and put the stolen money on Alysheba. He very nearly fell down during in the stretch run at Churchill when Bet Twice drifted into his path but he and Chris McCarron persevered to win me my first Kentucky Derby. Another gritty win over archrival Bet Twice in the Preakness set the stage for the son of Alydar to avenge his sire and capture the Triple Crown. Those were the days when New York didn’t allow the anti-bleeding medication Lasix and much was made of the fact that Alysheba would go without it for the mile and one half test. There wasn’t much drama that sunny June afternoon as Bet Twice spurted away rounding the far turn and was never challenged. Alysheba settled for fourth.

1989 – Sunday Silence I was there for this one too but have to admit some mixed emotions. This was racing’s last great East Coast/West Coast rivalry and, as a yankee, I was all about Easy Goer. Like most of the Easy Goer-ers I blamed his Derby loss to Santa Anita Derby winner Sunday Silence on the slick racetrack at Churchill Downs. After Sunday Silence out-gutted him in the Preakness by a nose I could say nothing and be nothing but heartbroken. Like two years before, the Belmont Stakes was over at the top of the stretch with Easy Goer operating like a Secretariat-like machine. He ran away from Sunday Silence by x lengths stopping the clock in 2:26, a time bettered only by Secretariat himself. Easy Goer may have been the last truly brilliant distance horse we’ve seen in North America. It was also NYRA race caller Marshal Cassidy’s last Belmont Stakes call and, like me, he didn’t try to hide his rooting interest screaming:  “It’s New York’s Eaasssy Goer, in front!”

1997 – Silver Charm I had skipped the 1995 and 1996 Belmont Stakes but had to come back with a big shot at witnessing history. Silver Charm proved to be an incredibly courageous and game animal with close victories over Captain Bodgit in the Kentucky Derby and again in the Preakness (with Free House and Touch Gold in close proximity too). If Touch Gold hadn’t stumbled badly at the start of the Baltimore race and then been shut off a few times maybe there would haven’t have been a Triple Crown on the line at all that year. But with Silver Charm you never knew. If Touch Gold had gotten through on the inside of the Pimlico stretch and come up alongside Silver Charm, Silver Charm likely would have battled back. Actually Chris McCarron did know and he kept Touch Gold to the far outside down the lane in the Belmont. He never let Gary Stevens and Silver Charm see him until it was too late. When Silver Charm passed me at about the 1/8th pole I thought he had the race won and it was hard to see if anyone actually did get by him from our angle up on the third floor. By the crowd reaction I assumed someone had beaten him but I sprinted up the stairs to the nearest TV to see what had actually happened. Silver Charm would not let Free House pass him but I watched in agony as Touch Gold surged by both from the far outside. Silver Charm, literally, never saw him coming.

1998 – Real Quiet I didn’t make the trip to New York for this one for some reason, instead, I was planted firmly on my couch in Louisville, Kentucky as Real Quiet ran for history. I had bet him in the Derby but was a little skeptical about his overall quality. The Derby was only his third lifetime win, afterall. But when Kent Desormeaux let him loose at the top of that long Belmont stretch and Real Quiet responded and bounded away. I lept up and thought “Holy @#$!@#, he’s going to do it!” It felt like he had already won. And then Victory Gallop, Gary Stevens up, appeared. And then he started getting closer. And then Real Quiet started staggering. And then they hit the wire together and Tom Durkin gave one of his greatest calls. “It’s too close to call! Was it Real Quiet!? Or was it Victory Gallop!? A picture is worth a thousand words. This one is worth five million dollars!” (At the time there was a $5 million bonus for whoever earned the Triple Crown). I couldn’t tell who won either but after watching the replays I was almost hoping that Victory Gallop had gotten his nose down first. After all that staggering and drifting by Real Quiet, there would be a claim of foul for sure if Real Quiet had crossed the wire first. How would you like to be the stewards with that much history in the balance? When the photo came back it showed Victory Gallop had won the 130th Belmont Stakes. Despite the bitter loss I got to feel what it was like to watch a Triple Crown winner. If only for a few fake seconds.

1999 – Charismatic I had an even harder time taking Charismatic seriously the following year. A former claimer he had exploded on the racing scene by taking the Lexington Stakes then the Derby and then Preakness. He was owned by racing’s first couple, the affable Robert & Beverly Lewis, who had been so gracious in 1997 with their Silver Charm (and Serena’s Song and so on). Charismatic ran his heart out trying to hold off Lemon Drop Kid and Vision and Verse down the stretch under Chris Antley. His try turned out to be more than his body could sustain. The lasting image of this Belmont Stakes was Chris Antley supporting the left front leg of Charismatic after the finish line, waiting for the vets to arrive on the scene. There’s perhaps no better image to represent the past decades of Triple Crown futility and frustration.

Next week: Part 2

(originally published on www.myfantasystable.com)